Intelligent remote control

ABSTRACT

A content access device and system may allow portable remote devices to be paired with a variety of different devices, allowing remote control through a network connection. Content access devices may expose application program interfaces, allowing incoming network traffic to control operation of the device much in the same way that a local infrared remote would. Routing content commands through an external application server may also yield other benefits, such as allowing more customized selection of information and advertising content to users based on their viewing history.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/333,066, entitled “Intelligent Remote Control” and filed on May 10, 2010, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as a non-limiting example embodiment.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

Television viewers have grown accustomed to the ubiquitous remote control. With it, a viewer can change the channel, adjust the volume, and power on/off their television. More modern remote controls have increased the functionality, to allow the remote controls to control other devices in the home. For example, a “universal” remote can control both a VCR and a television. The introduction of the digital video recorder (DVR) added a new level of functionality to the remote control, and viewers are now able to record, pause, and rewind television programs at their whim.

Despite the usefulness and convenience of conventional remote controls, there remains an ever-present need for even more convenience and even more usefulness.

SUMMARY

The features described herein generally relate to allowing network-based remote control of a user's device to access content. In some embodiments, a user may use a networked remote device, such as an Internet Protocol-enabled mobile device, to interact with a web server that offers control options for a user's controlled device, such as a set-top box (STB), digital video recorder (DVR), display device, television, or any other computing device used by the user to consume content. Through the web server, the user may pair his/her remote device with the controlled device that is to be controlled, and then enter control commands via the web server. The web server may receive commands via, for example, a web page, or alternatively via an exposed API, and can prepare corresponding commands to control the user's controlled device. The user may then remotely control their controlled device using, for example, their Internet-enabled cellular telephone. The user's controlled device may be configured to execute an application to receive such Internet-originated commands, forming a software control plane with the server.

An application server may receive the web-based commands, and may use the commands to offer enhanced services and information to the user. For example, social networking options may be provided to the user in connection with the program the user is watching. Usage data can also be collected at the application server, and used to provide targeted information (e.g., advertisements, television show recommendations, etc.) to the user based on demographic information.

Routing content access commands, such as channel tuning and program selection commands, through an external application server may allow further functionality as well. For example, the application server may use the information to support social viewing experiences. A user can send an invitation to a friend, inviting the friend to join in watching a currently-watched program, and accepting the invitation can result in the friend's access device automatically tuning to the same program. The two can then engage in an online chat while viewing the same program.

This summary is not intended to identify critical or essential features of the disclosures herein, but instead merely summarizes certain features and variations thereof.

Other details and features will also be described in the sections that follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some features herein are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example information distribution network.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example hardware platform on which the various elements described herein can be implemented.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example flow for an intelligent remote control.

FIGS. 4-9 c illustrate various remote control application displays in accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 10 a & b illustrate example pairing screens.

FIGS. 11-15 illustrate additional example remote control application screens.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example pairing flow.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example remote control application display.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example information distribution network 100 on which many of the various features described herein may be implemented. Network 100 may be any type of information distribution network, such as satellite, telephone, cellular, wireless, etc. One example may be an optical fiber network, a coaxial cable network or a hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) network. Such networks 100 use a series of interconnected communication lines 101 (e.g., coaxial cables, optical fibers, wireless, etc.) to connect multiple homes 102 to a central office or headend 103. The central office 103 may transmit downstream information signals onto the lines 101, and each home 102 may have a receiver used to receive and process those signals.

There may be one line 101 originating from the central office 103, and it may be split a number of times to distribute the signal to various homes 102 in the vicinity (which may be many miles) of the central office 103. The lines 101 may include components not illustrated, such as splitters, filters, amplifiers, etc. to help convey the signal clearly, but in general each split introduces a bit of signal degradation. Portions of the lines 101 may also be implemented with fiber-optic cable, while other portions may be implemented with coaxial cable, other lines, or wireless communication paths.

The central office 103 may include a termination system (TS) 104, such as a cable modem termination system (CMTS), which may be a computing device configured to manage communications between devices on the network of lines 101 and backend devices such as servers 105-107 (to be discussed further below). The TS may be as specified in a standard, such as the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) standard, published by Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (a.k.a. CableLabs) for HFC-type networks, or it may be a similar or modified device instead. The TS may be configured to place data on one or more downstream frequencies to be received by modems at the various homes 102, and to receive upstream communications from those modems on one or more upstream frequencies. The central office 103 may also include one or more network interfaces 108, which can permit the central office 103 to communicate with various other external networks 109. These networks 109 may include, for example, networks of Internet devices, telephone networks, cellular telephone networks, fiber optic networks, local wireless networks (e.g., WiMAX), satellite networks, and any other desired network, and the interface 108 may include the corresponding circuitry needed to communicate on the network 109, and to other devices on the network such as a cellular telephone network and its corresponding cell phones.

As noted above, the central office 103 may include a variety of servers 105-107 that may be configured to perform various functions. For example, the central office 103 may include a push notification server 105. The push notification server 105 may generate push notifications to deliver data and/or commands to the various homes 102 in the network (or more specifically, to the devices in the homes 102 that are configured to detect such notifications). The central office 103 may also include a content server 106. The content server 106 may be one or more computing devices that are configured to provide content to users in the homes. This content may be, for example, video on demand content, data, television programs, songs, text listings, etc. The content server 106 may include software to validate user identities and entitlements, locate and retrieve requested content, encrypt the content, and initiate delivery (e.g., streaming) of the content to the requesting user and/or device.

The central office 103 may also include one or more application servers 107. An application server 107 may be a computing device configured to offer any desired service, and may run various languages and operating systems (e.g., servlets and JSP pages running on Tomcat/MySQL, OSX, BSD, Ubuntu, Redhat, HTML5, JavaScript, AJAX and COMET). For example, an application server may be responsible for collecting television program listings information and generating a data download for electronic program guide listings. Another application server may be responsible for monitoring user viewing habits and collecting that information for use in selecting advertisements. Another application server may be responsible for formatting and inserting advertisements in a video stream being transmitted to the homes 102. Other application servers 107 may be used for billing, entitlements, voice over Internet Protocol handling, single sign-on, and any other desired feature. And as will be discussed in greater detail below, another application server may be responsible for receiving user remote control commands, and processing them to provide an intelligent remote control experience.

An example home 102 a may include a modem 110, which may include transmitters and receivers used to communicate on the lines 101 and with the central office 103. The modem 110 may be, for example, a coaxial cable modem (for coaxial cable lines 101), a fiber interface node (for fiber optic lines 101), or any other desired modem device. The modem 110 may be connected to, or be a part of, a gateway interface device 111. The gateway interface device 111 may be a computing device that communicates with the modem 110 to allow one or more other devices in the home to communicate with the central office 103 and other devices beyond the central office. The gateway 111 may be a set-top box (STB), digital video recorder (DVR), computer server, or any other desired computing device. The gateway 111 may also include (not shown) local network interfaces to provide communication signals to devices in the home, such as televisions 112, additional STBs 113, personal computers 114, laptop computers 115, wireless devices 116 (wireless laptops and netbooks, mobile phones, mobile televisions, personal digital assistants (PDA), etc.), and any other desired devices. Examples of the local network interfaces include Multimedia Over Coax Alliance (MoCA) interfaces, Ethernet interfaces, universal serial bus (USB) interfaces, wireless interfaces (e.g., IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth interfaces, and others. Some devices, such as wireless devices 116, may be used as a user's remote control device, described further below. These devices may also be external remote control devices 117, usable outside of the user's home 102.

FIG. 2 illustrates general hardware (some of which can be implemented in software as well) elements that can be used to implement any of the various computing devices discussed above. The computing device 200 may include one or more processors 201, which may execute instructions of a computer program to perform any of the features described herein. The instructions may be stored in any type of computer-readable medium or memory, to configure the operation of the processor 201. For example, instructions may be stored in a read-only memory (ROM) 202, random access memory (RAM) 203, removable media 204, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive, compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD), floppy disk drive, or any other desired electronic storage medium. Instructions may also be stored in an attached (or internal) hard drive 205. The computing device 200 may include one or more output devices, such as a display 206 (or an external television), and may include one or more output device controllers 207, such as a video processor. There may also be one or more user input devices 208, such as a remote control, keyboard, mouse, touch screen, microphone, etc. The computing device 200 may also include one or more network interfaces, such as input/output circuits 209 (such as a network card) to communicate with an external network 210. The network interface may be a wired interface, wireless interface, or a combination of the two. In some embodiments, the interface 209 may include a modem (e.g., a cable modem), and network 210 may include the communication lines 101 discussed above, the external network 109, an in-home network, a provider's wireless, coaxial, fiber, or hybrid fiber/coaxial distribution system (e.g., a DOCSIS network), or any other desired network.

Various features described herein offer improved remote control functionality to users accessing content from the central office 103. For example, one such user may be a viewer who is watching a television program being transmitted from the central office 103. In some embodiments, the user may be able to control his/her viewing experience (e.g., changing channels, adjusting volume, viewing a program guide, etc.) using any networked device, such as a cellular telephone, personal computer, personal data assistant (PDA), netbook computer, etc., aside from (or in addition to) the traditional infrared remote control that may have been supplied together with a television or STB.

FIG. 3 illustrates a general example of how such an intelligent remote control experience may be implemented, with steps that may be performed at various places in the overall network 100. Beginning in step 301, one or more software applications may be initialized for operation. This initialization may involve loading and/or running software onto various computing devices, such as a user's remote control device (e.g., wireless device 116, computer 114, external wireless device 117, etc.), an application server 107, or the user's controlled device (e.g., the gateway 111, STB 113 and/or television 112 (or another display device or content access device)). One example application loaded on the application server 107 may include application program interfaces (APIs) that expose certain commands of the user's remote control device, which the remote control device can use to request that the application server 107 send a corresponding command to the user's controlled device. The table below illustrates an example listing of commands (e.g., code received in an EBIF (Enhanced Television Binary Interchange Format) message) that can be exposed by the API, along with their function (e.g., name of a software routine to be executed by the application server 107 when the enumerated command is received) and parameters (e.g., data values to be passed to/from the executed routine):

Command Code Function Parameters 1 Channel Tune Channel Source ID 2 VOD Telescope ProviderID, AssetID 3 DVR Record Source ID, Start Time 4 DVR Series Record Source ID, Start Time, Series ID 5 Basic Message Payload 6 Instantiate App Payload, App ID 7 Executable Message Message Payload

The Channel Tune routine may, for example, cause the application server 107 to instruct the controlled device (e.g., gateway 111, STB/DVR 113, content consuming computer 114, or whichever device is to be controlled) to tune to a channel or service identified by the Channel Source ID. For example, the Channel Tune function can be used to instruct the controlled device to tune to Home Box Office (HBO), and the controlled device may respond by changing channel to HBO. The controlled device's response may follow the same approach as if the user had requested HBO from the gateway 111 or STB/DVR 113's program guide, or entered channel numbers using a local infrared remote.

The VOD (video on demand) Telescope routine may cause application server 107 to begin a video on demand stream containing the identified asset from the identified provider, and to instruct a user's controlled device to tune to that stream.

The DVR Record routine may cause the application server 107 to instruct the controlled device to schedule a recording of an identified source (e.g., channel, service, stream, etc.) at the identified time. This may result in, for example, the DVR 113 setting a future recording schedule.

The DVR Series Record routine may cause the application server 107 to instruct the controlled device to schedule a recording of each episode of an identified program series from an identified source to begin at the identified time.

The Basic Message routine may cause the application server 107 to instruct the controlled device to generate an onscreen display on a connected display device (e.g., television) of a message in the payload.

The Instantiate App routine may cause the controlled device to begin executing an identified application. For example, if the user is bidding in an online auction and is outbid, the user's controlled device (e.g., a gateway 111 or STB/DVR 113) may receive a message containing an interactive Payload message for display (“You've been outbid for item XX, press [Auction] to view your auctions page.”), and an identification of an application (which can be resident on the gateway) that should be executed by the controlled device. This application can be a 3^(rd) party application that need not even be running on the user's remote device 116 that issued the Instantiate App command.

The Executable Message routine may cause the application server 107 to instruct the controlled device to display an interactive message. This message may be a pop-up message with one or more interactive buttons, and a prompt. For example, the pop-up message may notify the user that a particular program is available for recording or video on demand, with buttons that would set a DVR recording or initiate a video on demand streaming session (e.g., “Lost series premier is on Tuesday, would you like to record?”, or “Spiderman 3 is available now on demand, would you like to watch?”). The Executable Message routine may be similar to the Instantiate App routine, but can simply execute a native application that may be available on the user's remote control device (e.g., 116 or 117) as well.

The commands listed above are merely exemplary, and other commands may be used as well. For example, commands for other remote control commands mentioned above (e.g., numeric entry, rewind, fast-forward, pause, mute, directional navigation, menu, etc.) may also be implemented with their own commands.

In addition to initializing a command application on the application server 107, the step 301 initialization may also include installing (or initializing) a listener application on the controlled device, such as the gateway 111 or STB/DVR 113, television 112 (or whatever device is to be controlled). The listener application may be an unbound EBIF application, existing independent of the particular channel or service being currently tuned by the user's controlled device, and may be configured to receive commands from, for example, an application server 107 at the central office 103, to control various aspects of itself, such as channel tuning, recording, volume, etc. The listener application may perform other functions as well, such as detecting telephone caller ID pop-up requests, receiving and rendering stock market alerts, announcing arriving emails, providing billing notices to the user, alerting the user that a new movie is available for VOD viewing, or any other desired function. These alerts may be displayed by the controlled device on an associated display (e.g., a television), or on the user's remote control device 116 or 117, or both using, for example, the Basic Message routine noted above. The command application on the server 107 and listener application on the controlled device may form a control plane for controlling the operation of the controlled device, and the control plane can be implemented using any desired communication protocol, such as the EBIF example discussed above, or other protocols such as OCAP (OpenCable Applications Platform), DTA, GoogleTV, etc.

The initialization 301 may also include initializing a pairing application at the controlled device. The pairing application may include instructions that cause the controlled device to provide the application server 107 with identification information for a user's remote control device (e.g., a personal computer 114, laptop 115, mobile device 116, external mobile device 117, etc.) that will be permitted to control the operation of the controlled device. This identification information can be a unique address of the remote control device or user, or it could be a randomly-generated passphrase (discussed below). The pairing may also inform the application server 107 that the particular remote control device is to be permitted to control the controlled device, and can identify the parameters needed for the desired control plane (e.g., identifying the APIs and/or parameters in the example commands above, and any other desired communication parameters).

A pairing application may also be installed on one or more remote control devices, such as a netbook computer, personal computer, mobile phone, etc. The remote control pairing application may include, for example, an address (e.g., an IP address, URL identification, etc.) of a central office 103 (or other server on network 109) that can handle pairing for the device, and program instructions for transmitting a pairing request to the central office 103. In some embodiments, the pairing application can reside at a network server, such as an Internet or local intranet server connected to network 109, or the application server 107. The remote control device may access the pairing application using a web browser, allowing any web-enabled device to serve as a remote control device.

The remote control device may also install a remote control application. The remote control application may contain program instructions for generating a user interface that the user can use to control the remote control device, and instructions for transmitting commands to the application server 107. Similar to the pairing application discussed above, the remote control device also need not install a dedicated remote control application. Instead, the various user interfaces and functionality for a remote control application may simply reside on a networked server, such as on the application server 107, or another Internet or local intranet server accessible via the network 109. Such a user interface may simply be an HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) document, accessible by any compatible device, such as a web-enabled device that is configured to handle HTML documents, Java, IPHONE native applications, PSP, BLACKBERRY, etc. In such an example, the remote control device can simply use a web browser application to access a controlled device's remote control website, and perform the functions below using that web page interface.

In step 302, the controlled device may determine whether a pairing request has been received. The pairing request may be received any time a user wishes to begin using a particular remote control device to control a controlled device, such as the gateway 111 or STB/DVR 113. The request may be received, for example, when the user presses a “Pairing” button on the gateway/STB/DVR 111, choosing a “Pairing” option in an on-screen program guide, or otherwise signals to it that pairing is requested.

If pairing is requested, then in step 303, the controlled device may generate a passphrase (e.g., a randomly-generated alphanumeric value, such as “Z12SP4”), and may display this passphrase on an associated display device, such as a television. FIGS. 10 a & b illustrate example screens that may be displayed by the controlled device (or generated for display on an associated display device, such as a computer monitor or television) during the pairing operation. The controlled device may then transmit, in step 304, a pairing request message to the application server 107, informing the server 107 that a pairing has been requested, and providing the controlled device's own ID (e.g., a unique media access control—MAC—address, customer identifier, or other identification) and the passphrase. In some embodiments, the controlled device or the server 107 can note the time that the passphrase was generated or delivered, and can set a time-to-live (TTL) value for the passphrase to a limited amount of time (e.g., 30 minutes).

In step 305, the user may view the passphrase on the television, and initiate the pairing application on his/her remote control device. For example, the user may open the application on a mobile telephone (or open a web browser and go to a remote control website hosted by application server 107), and enter the passphrase. The application may then transmit a remote control pairing message containing its own identification information (e.g., an IP address of the remote control device, a MAC address of the remote control device, telephone number, user identification, etc.) and the passphrase to the central office 103, and to the application server 107. This transmission can be performed in any desired manner, depending on the data connection of the remote control device. For example, if the remote control device is a cellular telephone, such as telephone 117 in FIG. 1, then the transmission may be performed by the telephone 117 using its own radio transmitter and through a cellular telephone network 109 to arrive at the central office 103. The transmission may be an HTTP message to supply the passphrase and address information to the application server 107 (or other server hosting the remote control interface). The transmission may also include any desired parameters for the control plane, such as identification of the protocol to use (e.g., EBIF), the command APIs, etc.

In step 306, the application server 107 may receive both the pairing request from the controlled device, and the remote control device pairing message from the remote control device that the user wishes to use as a remote control. The server may receive many such messages from different devices, and may use the passphrase to uniquely identify a matched pair of a remote control device and controlled device. Having the controlled device generate the passphrase may help minimize the chance of an unauthorized pairing.

Once the application server 107 has identified the pair, it may then conduct a validity or entitlement check on the pair to verify that the requests appear genuine. A part of this check may involve comparing the current time with the time-to-live value from above, to determine if the remote control device sent its pairing request within the TTL window. If the pair is approved, then the server 107 may store a record, associating the remote control device's unique address or identifier with that of the controlled device. In some embodiments, a pairing may require authentication of the user and/or remote control device. For example, the application server 107 may require that the user also enter a password, to help assure that the user is legitimately permitted to control a given STB. If desired, any control plane parameters (e.g., EBIF command APIs, communication protocols, etc.) may also be established, and the application server 107 can configure itself to use the appropriate parameters for the command communications with the controlled device to control operation.

After a controlled device has been successfully paired with a remote control device, it may then be ready to be controlled by that remote control device. Example control by the remote control device begins in step 307. In step 307, the remote control device may determine whether a remote control input has been received. Such an input may be, for example, generated by the user pressing a button on the remote control device while the device is running a remote control application. The remote control application may have or generate a user interface with various buttons (graphical buttons, if the remote control device has a touch-sensitive display) for controlling the controlled device, such as numeric inputs, volume control, a program guide button, an information button, commands to control playback of content (e.g., play, fast forward, rewind, pause), a record button, etc. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of such an interface.

If an input has been received, then the application on the remote control device may formulate a remote command message to send to the application server 107. The remote command message may be formulated to contain application program interface (API) values for the various commands mentioned above. For example, if the user had entered “250” to change channels to channel 250, the application may send a message containing the following values: {Sender ID, 1, 250}, where the “Sender ID” is an identification of the remote control device, the “1” is the command code for a channel tuning function, the “250” is the source identifier for the channel to be tuned. The message may also include an identifier of the controlled device, which can be useful if the user wishes to use the same remote control device to control multiple controlled devices. The message can be sent in any desired format, and additional data values may be included in the message as well, depending on the format. For example, the message can be an Internet Protocol (IP) packet, and may have additional values, such as an IP header, frame header/footer, UDP (User Datagram Protocol) header/footer, etc.

In step 308, the remote device 117 may transmit the command message to the application server 107, and the application server may process the message in step 309. Processing the message may include identifying one or more function routines to be executed in response to the enumerated command code, and providing the parameters to those routines.

In step 310, the application server 107 may transmit a response to the remote device 117. The response may include, for example, messages and/or images to be displayed for the user, such as a message confirming that the command has been received, or containing additional information about the channel being watched. Examples of additional responses and functionality are discussed further below.

In step 311, the application server 107 may formulate a message to be delivered to the controlled device to carry out the requested command. In some embodiments, this message may be a push message (e.g., as a UDP push message). In those embodiments, the application server 107 may send an Event Execution Request message to a UDP Push server 105. The Event Execution Request message may contain commands that the controlled device will accept to carry out the requested operation. In step 312, the push server 105 may then prepare and send a push message addressed to the controlled device, and have it sent by the modem termination system 104 on a downstream data transmission over lines 101.

In step 313, the controlled device may receive the push message, and may act in response to the command contained therein. For example, if the push message included an instruction to tune to channel 250, then the controlled device may respond by doing just that. Then, in step 314, the controlled device may transmit a return message to the central office 103 (or to the application server 107) reporting the results of the command. This reporting can be a simple confirmation that the command has been carried out, or it can be an error report indicating that the command was not carried out, with additional information identifying the reason why it could not be carried out. The process may then return to step 307, and await the next command.

As noted above, the remote control device 117 may have a remote control application installed to offer user control over the controlled device. Such an application can offer a wide variety of functions, not limited to channel changing and DVR record scheduling. FIG. 4 illustrates an example user interface for the basic commands of controlling the controlled device, with buttons for entering channel numbers, opening and navigating through a program guide, recording, rewinding, pausing, fast-forwarding through a program, managing a DVR recordings list, using interactive applications, etc. The application can be written in any form, such as an HTTP script or Internet application.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface 501. The interface 501 may include various onscreen elements that can be selected using touch (if displayed on a touch-sensitive screen) or via a computer pointer or navigation highlight. The interface may include a series of selectable tabs 502 which, upon selection, may cause the display of a variety of different interfaces. Tabs can include a home tab to cause the display of the interface 501, and other tabs such as a Remote tab to cause the display of the remote control interface (e.g., FIG. 4), a Guide tab to cause the display of the program guide (e.g., FIGS. 9 a & 9 c, discussed below), a video on demand (VOD) tab to cause the display of a program guide for videos available on demand (FIG. 11, discussed below), a Favorites tab to cause the display of a listing of favorite channels and/or programs (e.g., FIG. 12, discussed below), a Settings tab to cause display of an interface to adjust settings (e.g., FIG. 13, discussed below), a recommendations tab to cause display of a listing of content recommendations received from others (e.g., FIG. 14, discussed below), a watch video tab to initiate a redirected stream of requested video to a different display device (e.g., to the remote control device itself, or to another location on the Internet, etc.), etc.

The interface may include a display 503 of the title for a program that is currently being viewed at the controlled device. Information identifying the currently viewed program can be sent, for example, in the response sent to the remote control device in step 310 discussed above. In the FIG. 5 example, the television show “Jeopardy!” is being viewed, and upon selection of this item, the user may see an expanded listing containing additional information about the show, and additional options for the show (e.g., options to record the show, or set a series recording, or find alternate air times for the show, etc.).

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of such an additional display. In that example, the selected program “Closing Bell” is displayed with a text description. Other options are displayed as well. Those options include an option to begin viewing the selected program. Selecting this option would send a command to the application server 107 to, in turn, send a command to the controlled device to begin tuning and/or decoding the selected program. Other options may be, for example, to set the currently selected channel (e.g., “CNBC”, in this example) as a default channel to be the focus the next time the guide is opened, or to be the default channel that is tuned or decoded when the user begins to watch television, remove the channel and/or program from the favorites list, record the program, set a series recording to record each episode of the program's series, and to recommend the show to friends. Another option may allow the user to view additional available content or merchandise, relating to the selected program. FIG. 15 illustrates an example screen that can offer the user the option of requesting a mailing brochure of information about a program, or a product being discussed in the program.

A remote control command may begin with the user selection of the show from the interface 501. The remote control device's remote control application may detect this selection, and then formulate a command message (as in step 308 above) identifying the remote control device, the requested function (e.g., additional information and options for a selected program), and the selected program. The server can process and respond to the message (e.g., steps 309 and 310), replying to the remote control with additional information for the selected program (e.g., its textual description), and additional control options (e.g., the options for recording, setting a record schedule, etc.). The application server 107 can skip the creation of and sending the push message (e.g., steps 311-314), if the particular request does not require action or response from the controlled device. If the remote control application is implemented as a web page at the application server 107, then the command may simply be an HTTP command indicating user selection of a graphical interface object on the page, and the response may be another web page.

The interface 501 can also include one or more additional application options. For example, a social friends list option 504 may result in the display of a listing of a user's friends who are also online. FIG. 7 a illustrates an example of such a “Buddy List” display 701. To support such functionality, the application server 107 (or another centralized server on the network 109) may monitor the users who are watching their televisions. The controlled device may be configured to transmit an upstream message to the server 107 when the user begins to view content (e.g., when the user turns on the gateway device, or enters a user identification to identify him/herself to the gateway). The application server 107 may maintain a record for each unique user, household, or consumption device, and each record may contain identifiers of other users/households/consumption devices that are designated as friends. This friend designation can occur, for example, when a user first signs up for service, or the friends list can be imported from another social network (e.g., Plaxo, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Each listed friend in the display 701 may include a name (or other identifier), and an indication of status (e.g., offline, watching “Jeopardy!”, etc.). This status information, which may have been reported to the application server 107, or other servers associated with social networks and accessible by application server 107, as each friend logged on to begin watching television, may be reported back to the remote control device in step 310, and in response to a user's selection of the friends list option 504. Selecting or highlighting a listed friend may cause additional options to appear, such as options to send the friend a message, or invite the friend to join in watching the currently-viewed program. Sending this kind of request may involve, for example, delivering a pop-up message to the friend's consumption device (e.g., a gateway, STB, DVR, computer, etc.) in step 309. If the friend accepts the invitation, then the friend can be added to a chat window for the show, as illustrated in FIG. 7 b. The chat window 702 may allow individuals who are participating in the chat session to type textual messages, and have those messages delivered (e.g., via Short Message Service, Multimedia Message Service, etc.) in step 309 to other users in the session. Users can also select a friend, and send an instant message directed to the selected friend.

The display may also include an option 703 to invite other members in the chat session to tune to the same program being watched by the sending user. For example, the user can select the “Invite to Watch” feature, and select some (or all) of the parties to the chat, and the inviting user's remote control device may transmit an invitation command in step 308. The invitation command may identify the content being viewed (e.g., a source identifier for “Jeopardy!”), the command requested (e.g., the invite command), and identifiers for the users to be invited (e.g., email addresses, friend codes, etc.). The application server 107 can send invitation messages to the various users (via their respective networks, central offices, application servers and/or user devices, etc.), and those users can be given the option to accept or reject the invitation. Upon accepting the invitation, the accepting user's device may automatically tune to the channel or service carrying the content, and transmit a message to the application server 107 that the user has accepted the invite.

Other interactions with friends can be performed as well. For example, a user can choose to recommend a program to a friend, similar to the invitation to view. A user can also view recommendations that the friend has sent to the user, or to others. To support this latter functionality, the application server 107 may retain a listing of invites and/or recommendations that each user has sent in the past (or for a predetermined amount of time). The recommendations can also come from the system, such as from a reviewer associated with the central office 103. FIG. 14 illustrates an example display screen containing recommendations, which may be categorized (e.g., according to whether they are on-demand or linear/broadcast). In some embodiments, system recommendations and other recommendations may be optionally retrieved.

As another example, a user can choose to post a rating and/or comment for a show being watched, by choosing an option from the additional information screen in FIG. 6. The remote control application may display a text entry interface to allow the user to type a comment, and to choose a rating (e.g., numeric, number of stars, etc.), and that information can be transmitted in step 308 with a command to post the user's rating for the show. The application server 107 may, in step 309, process this message to add the user's rating to a ratings database. The user can also choose to view ratings and comments that have been supplied by other users for a particular program.

In some embodiments, when a user's friend has turned on or signed in to their respective gateway/STB/DVR to begin watching a program, the friend's gateway may transmit a sign-in message to his/her respective application server, and the application server may send a notification message to the user (e.g., by consulting the friend's own list of friends, and sending a push notification message to an address associated with each of the listed friends). The notification message may be displayed on the user's remote control device, such as that shown in FIG. 7 c, and can offer the user the option of inviting the friend to join a chat or watch a show.

The user interface 501 may offer other options as well. For example, applications may be loaded to allow access to other servers on the network 109 or another network, such as servers for social networking websites (e.g., Twitter, Facebook), databases (e.g., Wikipedia, Internet Movie DataBase—IMDB), and other information resources (e.g., YouTube, local news station, sports news website). Selecting any one of these options 505 may result in sending a command message in step 308 identifying the selected option, and a corresponding processing 309 and response 310, examples of which are described below. Since the application server 107 may be connected to these resources through the network 109 (e.g., the Internet or another public or local network), a wide variety of functionality can be supported.

One example may be to allow a user to access a website. For example, selecting an option 505 for the Twitter application may result in transmitting an HTTP request for the Twitter Internet server (e.g., “www.twitter.com”). The request may be accompanied by additional contextual information, such as the name of a television program being watched at the time (e.g., “Jeopardy!”). The server for that application may use the contextual information to conduct a contextual query, and provide information based on the supplied contextual information. So, for example, for a social RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or ATOM Syndication news feed site like Twitter, the resulting information supplied back to the server 107 and to the device 117 may be a listing of RSS feeds relating to the topic of “Jeopardy!”, as illustrated in FIG. 8. Requests to other sites may result in a search for other information about the particular program, its stars/actors, related programs, etc.

Other contextual information may be supplied as well. For example, if the remote control device is equipped with location determining capabilities (e.g., via a global positioning system, or with address information keyed to the user), then the location can be included as contextual information. The location information can be used to generate a location-specific query through an Internet database, for example, to limit RSS feeds to those originating from within a predetermined distance (e.g., 5 miles) of the user. In this way, the user can see RSS feeds that are relevant to the show being watched, and posted by neighbors.

Other websites and applications may be accessed as well. One example application may be an Internet browser, which may allow the user to browse the Internet using the remote control device. In some embodiments, the device may display the remote control interfaces (e.g., FIG. 5) in a window on a part of a display screen, and the browser (or other application interface) can be displayed on other parts of the screen.

Another option in the screen 501 may be an option 506 to manage applications appearing in the remote control application. For example, the user could turn on or off individual applications, adjust display settings and viewing preferences, etc.

Another option in the screen 501 may be an option to view a program guide, listing available content and their air times, titles, service provider, price, etc. (the guide may itself be the same as, or an extension of, a guide provided by the gateway or STB/DVR 111). FIG. 9 a illustrates an example program guide listing, showing a listing of content. The listing may be scrolled, and by selecting one, the user may be presented with additional information and options for the selected listing, as illustrated in FIG. 9 b. The additional information may include a detailed textual description, and the additional options may include the option to change channels to begin viewing the program (“Watch Now”), set this channel as a default channel for future guide displays (e.g., the default channel may be the channel that is initially displayed in the guide, or initially tuned when the gateway/STB/DVR is first turned on), save the current program to a list of favorite programs (e.g., recording the program and saving it in a favorites list), or others. To support such a feature, the application server may process, e.t., at step 309, a message from the remote control device requesting a guide listing, and may consult a network database to retrieve listings for the requesting user. The retrieved listings can be supplied as part of the response 310.

The content listings may be manipulated and searched in other ways as well. For example, the user can choose to view the listings sorted by title, genre, sub-genre, combination of genres, description text keywords, etc. Users can enter text to conduct text searches for programs by title, actor, description, etc. Services may be added to a favorites list, and the user can view a listing containing just entries for services on that favorites list. FIG. 9 c illustrates an example guide display that includes a search option that, if selected, can direct the user to a text input interface to allow entry of keywords for searching, or to a category selection menu to allow selection of other search criteria.

In some embodiments, content that is aired as part of multicast or broadcast transmissions can be separated from content that is available for immediate access (e.g., video on demand), or they may be displayed together in a combined listing. FIG. 11 illustrates an example listing that focuses on programs that are available as video on demand programs. In some embodiments, the listings may be personalized for the user and/or device 117. The personalization may be based on a user's stored favorites list on the application server 107, or on location-based information (e.g., if the device 117 has global positioning capabilities, the location can be delivered with the command to view the guide listings, and the server 107 may respond by filtering the listings to only show services that are locally available in the user or device's vicinity). FIG. 12 illustrates an example display containing a listing of the user's favorite programs.

As noted above, the application server 107 may be made aware of tuning commands entered by a user. This can inform the server 107 of the program being viewed, and can be used by the server 107 to select advertising information to be supplied to the user. For example, the tuning command may be accompanied by user identification information (e.g., a user name or tag), and the server 107 may store a profile database identifying demographic information for various users of the system. Based on the demographic information, and knowledge of the particular program being watched, the server 107 can choose to insert certain advertising information into the content (e.g., video insertion into a television show), or into the user interface (e.g., the display appearing on the remote device 117). The server 107 can also store information tracking a user's interactive usage, monitoring the types of applications he/she runs, how frequently they are run, what uses they experience, etc. All activity can be logged, and this information can be reported to external servers, and can also be used to identify and recommend additional interactive applications that become available, send users alerts to offer additional products and services, etc. In some embodiments, the user's remote device 117 may receive a pop-up display, asking if the user would like to receive additional products, services or information relating to a program being viewed or selected in the guide, based on the logged information.

In some embodiments, the usage and/or viewing history information may be processed to remove unreliable entries. For example, if the gateway/STB/DVR reports that the user was viewing a particular channel for longer than a predetermined amount of time (e.g., a full day, 2 days, etc.), then it is likely that the user simply left the device on, and was not truly watching the entire time. Such unreliable data can be removed before being included in a report or used.

In some embodiments, the collected usage information can be queried to identify viewing patterns for multiple users, and/or for a single user over time. These queries can allow even greater levels of customization and personalization for future delivery of content. The application server 107 (or a more centralized server on the network 109) can expose additional APIs to allow third parties to view some or all of the logged data. For example, a central office 103 may expose an enumerated command API (or web page) to allow an advertiser to run queries on viewing data for a given time period, or among a given age/geographic demographic.

In some embodiments, in which multiple central offices may serve different groups of users, a centralized pairing server (not shown) may be connected to a network, and pairing requests from controlled devices and remote control devices may be automatically directed to the centralized pairing server. The centralized pairing server may then handle the pairing. Indeed, in the example of FIG. 1, the server 107 may be centrally located, or it may be distributed across the various homes, such as in the gateway/STB/DVR 111.

In some embodiments, the functionality of the gateway/STB/DVR 111 may be programmed into the gateway/STB/DVR 111 via download during manufacture and/or bootup at the user's premises (e.g., the listener application may be a part of the device's own default operating system, and may even be proprietary to the manufacturer of the device, with only the necessary APIs being exposed). In some embodiments, a legacy device (e.g., a legacy STB) may be augmented with the remote control application software via an external memory device and control circuit, such as a Universal Serial Bus dongle. The choice of including the listener application as a default or an upgrade may be based, for example, on the initial complexity of the device being controlled. A simpler device, such as a home appliance (e.g., air conditioner) might omit such functionality in its default programming, while a more sophisticated device (e.g., home security system, gateway, etc.) may include it as a default.

As noted above, the remote control application interface may allow the user to set parameters for operation. FIG. 13 illustrates an example display for this purpose. In the display, the user may have an option 1301 to choose which device to control. The interface can list one or more devices (e.g., gateways, STBs, DVRs, display devices, etc.) that have undergone the pairing process with the current remote device, and are available for control. For example, the user can initiate the FIG. 3 pairing process with a first STB, and then do so again with a DVR in the same (or different) house. Each pairing may be recorded by the application server 107, and the server 107 may allow the user to select which one to control. The second (or subsequent) pairing request can repeat steps 302-306, with new passphrases generated by the additional device (or devices) that are to be controlled, allowing the user's remote control device to be paired with multiple content access devices.

Selection of different devices may result in display of different command options, as some options might not be available on other devices. For example, trickplay commands (e.g., fast forward, rewind, etc.) might be of no use if the user is controlling a simple set-top box that lacks that functionality, so those commands need not appear in the remote control interface if such a simple device is controlled. In some embodiments, such as the program guide example discussed above, the remote device may display user interface elements that are normally generated by the gateway or STB/DVR 111 for local display on a connected display device (e.g., a television, video monitor, etc.). The gateway or STB/DVR 111 may transmit messages to the server 107 to cause the remote device to display suitable displays with which the user can interact, and the remote device can transmit commands (e.g., the example commands discussed above, or others) to the gateway or STB/DVR 111 (e.g., via the server 107) to report back results of user interaction (e.g., a tuning command to tune to the program the user chose from the program guide). In this manner, and if desired, the remote device 117 may be used as a shortcut to bypass some of the interaction with the gateway or STB/DVR 111 (e.g., if, for example, finding and choosing a program is easier using the device 117 than the STB's onscreen program guide). In such an embodiment, the various commands being sent from the remote control device may further include information identifying the controlled device for which the command was intended.

Other settings options may include a text box 1302 to use when entering a passphrase in step 305. A “nickname” option may allow the user to enter a custom name for the device, for ease of reference and display in the device selection option 1301. The settings options may also allow entry 1303 of other parameters, such as IP address locations for configuration files (e.g., schema locations), or parameters used for other websites or networks (e.g., usernames for social websites, cell phone number, etc.). For example, FIG. 13 illustrates a nickname of “Dev STB” for one device. If the user had previously paired the remote device with other devices, the user can have provided nicknames for each of those other devices as well, such that the list could include other devices, such as “Bedroom DVR” and “Kitchen TV”, etc.

The information and options that are made available to the user on the remote application interface may be customized, as discussed above. This customization can also be performed automatically, such as during the pairing process. For example, once a remote control device is paired, the application server 107 may access account information associated with the paired controlled device (or user), and can use that information to pull guide information, channel lineups, service entitlements, parental controls, personal preferences, etc. from one or more databases based on the identity of the paired controlled device or user. So, for example, if the application server 107 knows that a given user's DVR is a digital DVR with HD (high definition) capability, the application server 107 can provide guide information that includes HD listings.

In some embodiments, the application server 107 and/or remote control application may allow a user to upload applications that the user has written, to add the application functionality to the remote control interface. This addition may be the introduction of a simple RSS feed created by the user, or it can be more complex.

In some embodiments, third parties may use the enumerated command API to send messages to their own customers, without requiring their own EBIF application on each controlled device. For example, a third party's server (not shown) may connect to the Internet (e.g., network 109 or other network), and transmit a request to application server 107 to have messages displayed on users' STBs. The message can be a simple HTTP packet containing the enumerated command parameters discussed above. It can also be a simple selection from a web page offered by the application server 107.

The pairing request in step 302 may be originated by the controlled device, for example, upon initialization. Similarly, the pairing request can also be originated by the remote control device 117. FIG. 16 illustrates an example of this remote-initiated pairing. In step 1601, the user may use the remote control device and log in to the application server 107 by providing, for example, a user identification, password, and remote control device identification, and request to initialize pairing. The request, as with the step 302 example, can be automatically performed upon the user's initial log in to the system, or it can be performed upon the user's request.

In step 1602, the application server 107 may retrieve a previously-stored listing of devices that are associated with the user's account. For example, the user may have previously created an account to supply one or more gateway/STB/DVRs 111 with access to content, and in doing so the application server 107 may have stored a listing of these devices for the particular user. The listing may identify the devices, for example, by a unique device address (e.g., a MAC address) and/or logical address (e.g., an IP address assigned to the device). Those devices may already have been authorized for access to content provided by the application server 107, and the server 107 may already have identification information from the remote control device through the log-in process, so the pairing of remote control device to the various approved devices may automatically be performed upon the user's log in with the device. For example, the simple act of logging in may result in the application server 107 storing an authorized pairing of the remote control device to each of the registered devices of the user.

The pairing process may include a nicknaming process such as that described above in FIG. 13. To help the user and application server 107 coordinate the nicknaming, in step 1603, the application server 107 may transmit messages to each of the user's controlled devices, and can transmit a message to the remote control device, listing the known/registered devices by their default/current name (the default or current names may be any desired label or handle used to identify the devices), along with the messages being sent to each. The messages may be unique to each device, and may be any desired phrase, such as the Pass Phrase shown in FIG. 10 b. By viewing the messages displayed on or by the gateway/STB/DVR 111, the user can then identify the devices and rename them to a more suitable name.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example screen that may be displayed on remote control device for this purpose. The screen may include listings 1701, with the default names (e.g., “STB1”, “STB2” and “DVR1”) and the messages being sent to each (e.g., “Welcome to Xfinity”, “Today is Wednesday” and “Comcast”). Seeing these messages displayed on the corresponding devices (gateway/STB/DVR 111), the user can then associate the default names with the actual devices, and can rename them as desired. So, for example, the user could tap on one of the listed devices in FIG. 17, and enter a new name (e.g., “STB1” can be renamed to “Living Room TV”).

The above discussed embodiments are simply examples, and modifications may be made as desired for different implementations. For example, steps and/or components may be subdivided, combined, rearranged, removed and/or augmented as desired. Also, although an EBIF example is discussed, the control plane protocol can be in any desired protocol, such as OCAP (OpenCable Application Platform), DTA, GoogleTV, etc. Additional features may be added.

The attached Appendix A contains example source code listings for various features described herein. 

We claim:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, at a content access device, a pairing request from a remote control device, the pairing request comprising a request to permit the remote control device to control the content access device; responsive to the pairing request, generating, by the content access device, a passphrase and providing the passphrase to a user of the remote control device; transmitting, by the content access device to a computing device remote from the content access device, a pairing message comprising the passphrase and an identifier of the content access device; and receiving, by the content access device from the computing device, an authorization message responsive to the pairing message, the authorization message indicating that the computing device has successfully facilitated pairing of the content access device with the remote control device.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the content access device from the computing device, remote control commands.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the remote control commands comprise software application calls to an application program interface of the content access device.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the software application calls comprise enhanced television binary interchange format (EBIF) messages.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving and presenting, by the content access device, streamed audiovisual content.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving content playback control commands via Internet transmission.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the content access device, an invitation to watch a program, the invitation comprising an identification of the program and an identification of a user who sent the invitation; receiving, by the content access device, a local acceptance of the invitation; and automatically switching programs, by the content access device, to watch the identified program in response to the acceptance.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: opening a chat window on a screen generated by the content access device; and using the chat window to support a chat between the user of the remote control device who sent the invitation and another user who accepted the invitation.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating an invitation to watch a program currently being presented by the content access device for the user of the remote control device; and transmitting the invitation to the computing device with a request to invite another user to join the user of the remote control device in watching the program.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the passphrase to a user of the remote control device comprises causing the passphrase to be presented to the user of the remote control device on a display associated with the content access device, wherein the remote control device comprises a display different from the display associated with the content access device, and wherein receiving the authorization message comprises: receiving, by the content access device from the computing device, the authorization message indicating that the content access device and the remote control device have been successfully paired based on the passphrase, the identifier of the content access device, and the passphrase presented on the display.
 11. A method, comprising: receiving, at a gateway located at a first premises and from a remote control device via an interface associated with one or more computing devices, a remote control command in a first format to control a content access device located at the first premises, the remote control command comprising at least one remote control command parameter; transmitting the remote control command from the gateway to the one or more computing devices; receiving, at the gateway from the one or more computing devices, a content access device command addressed to the content access device, the content access device command being in a second format different from the first format and comprising at least one parameter based on the at least one remote control command parameter; and transmitting, from the gateway to the content access device, the content access device command.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the remote control command comprises a wireless remote control command received by the gateway over a wireless connection, and wherein the content access device comprises a video content access device.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the wireless remote control command comprises a channel change command.
 14. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving, at the gateway from the remote control device, a second remote control command addressed to a second content access device located at the first premises; transmitting the second remote control command from the gateway to the one or more computing devices; receiving, from the one or more computing devices, a second content access device command being directed to the second content access device, the second content access device command corresponding to the second remote control command; and transmitting the second content access device command from the gateway to the second content access device.
 15. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving, at the gateway from the remote control device, a second remote control command configured to invite a different user to view content currently being viewed by a user of the content access device; and transmitting the second remote control command from the gateway to a second computing device located at the premises different from the first premises.
 16. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving, at the gateway and from the one or more computing devices, the content access device command to tune to a different service from a currently-tuned service.
 17. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more computing devices are located at a premises remote from the first premises.
 18. A method, comprising: causing, by a first computing device at a first premises, presentation of a user-selectable option to transmit a command in a first format to a second computing device, the command comprising at least one command parameter configured to cause the second computing device, that is remote from the first computing device, to transmit an electronic program guide command to a video content access device located at the first premises, the electronic program guide command being in a second format different from the first format and comprising at least one function routine to be executed by the video content access device based on the at least one command parameter; receiving a user selection of the user-selectable option; and transmitting a wireless signal comprising the command in the first format in response to the user selection of the user-selectable option.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the electronic program guide command comprises a command to open an electronic program guide for viewing.
 20. The method of claim 18, further comprising causing, by the first computing device, presentation of a user selectable option to invite a different user, at a different premises, to view content currently being presented by the video content access device, and to automatically control a content access device of the different user to begin presenting the content in response to an acceptance by the different user. 